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<title>Debugging with GDB: Starting</title>

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<a name="Starting"></a>
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<p>
Next: <a href="Arguments.html#Arguments" accesskey="n" rel="next">Arguments</a>, Previous: <a href="Compilation.html#Compilation" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Compilation</a>, Up: <a href="Running.html#Running" accesskey="u" rel="up">Running</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
</div>
<hr>
<a name="Starting-your-Program"></a>
<h3 class="section">4.2 Starting your Program</h3>
<a name="index-starting"></a>
<a name="index-running"></a>

<dl compact="compact">
<dd><a name="index-run"></a>
<a name="index-r-_0028run_0029"></a>
</dd>
<dt><code>run</code></dt>
<dt><code>r</code></dt>
<dd><p>Use the <code>run</code> command to start your program under <small>GDB</small>.
You must first specify the program name with an argument to
<small>GDB</small> (see <a href="Invocation.html#Invocation">Getting In and Out of
<small>GDB</small></a>), or by using the <code>file</code> or <code>exec-file</code>
command (see <a href="Files.html#Files">Commands to Specify Files</a>).
</p>
</dd>
</dl>

<p>If you are running your program in an execution environment that
supports processes, <code>run</code> creates an inferior process and makes
that process run your program.  In some environments without processes,
<code>run</code> jumps to the start of your program.  Other targets,
like &lsquo;<samp>remote</samp>&rsquo;, are always running.  If you get an error
message like this one:
</p>
<div class="smallexample">
<pre class="smallexample">The &quot;remote&quot; target does not support &quot;run&quot;.
Try &quot;help target&quot; or &quot;continue&quot;.
</pre></div>

<p>then use <code>continue</code> to run your program.  You may need <code>load</code>
first (see <a href="Target-Commands.html#load">load</a>).
</p>
<p>The execution of a program is affected by certain information it
receives from its superior.  <small>GDB</small> provides ways to specify this
information, which you must do <em>before</em> starting your program.  (You
can change it after starting your program, but such changes only affect
your program the next time you start it.)  This information may be
divided into four categories:
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt>The <em>arguments.</em></dt>
<dd><p>Specify the arguments to give your program as the arguments of the
<code>run</code> command.  If a shell is available on your target, the shell
is used to pass the arguments, so that you may use normal conventions
(such as wildcard expansion or variable substitution) in describing
the arguments.
In Unix systems, you can control which shell is used with the
<code>SHELL</code> environment variable.  If you do not define <code>SHELL</code>,
<small>GDB</small> uses the default shell (<samp>/bin/sh</samp>).  You can disable
use of any shell with the <code>set startup-with-shell</code> command (see
below for details).
</p>
</dd>
<dt>The <em>environment.</em></dt>
<dd><p>Your program normally inherits its environment from <small>GDB</small>, but you can
use the <small>GDB</small> commands <code>set environment</code> and <code>unset
environment</code> to change parts of the environment that affect
your program.  See <a href="Environment.html#Environment">Your Program&rsquo;s Environment</a>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>The <em>working directory.</em></dt>
<dd><p>Your program inherits its working directory from <small>GDB</small>.  You can set
the <small>GDB</small> working directory with the <code>cd</code> command in <small>GDB</small>.
See <a href="Working-Directory.html#Working-Directory">Your Program&rsquo;s Working Directory</a>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>The <em>standard input and output.</em></dt>
<dd><p>Your program normally uses the same device for standard input and
standard output as <small>GDB</small> is using.  You can redirect input and output
in the <code>run</code> command line, or you can use the <code>tty</code> command to
set a different device for your program.
See <a href="Input_002fOutput.html#Input_002fOutput">Your Program&rsquo;s Input and Output</a>.
</p>
<a name="index-pipes"></a>
<p><em>Warning:</em> While input and output redirection work, you cannot use
pipes to pass the output of the program you are debugging to another
program; if you attempt this, <small>GDB</small> is likely to wind up debugging the
wrong program.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<p>When you issue the <code>run</code> command, your program begins to execute
immediately.  See <a href="Stopping.html#Stopping">Stopping and Continuing</a>, for discussion
of how to arrange for your program to stop.  Once your program has
stopped, you may call functions in your program, using the <code>print</code>
or <code>call</code> commands.  See <a href="Data.html#Data">Examining Data</a>.
</p>
<p>If the modification time of your symbol file has changed since the last
time <small>GDB</small> read its symbols, <small>GDB</small> discards its symbol
table, and reads it again.  When it does this, <small>GDB</small> tries to retain
your current breakpoints.
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dd><a name="index-start"></a>
</dd>
<dt><code>start</code></dt>
<dd><a name="index-run-to-main-procedure"></a>
<p>The name of the main procedure can vary from language to language.
With C or C<tt>++</tt>, the main procedure name is always <code>main</code>, but
other languages such as Ada do not require a specific name for their
main procedure.  The debugger provides a convenient way to start the
execution of the program and to stop at the beginning of the main
procedure, depending on the language used.
</p>
<p>The &lsquo;<samp>start</samp>&rsquo; command does the equivalent of setting a temporary
breakpoint at the beginning of the main procedure and then invoking
the &lsquo;<samp>run</samp>&rsquo; command.
</p>
<a name="index-elaboration-phase"></a>
<p>Some programs contain an <em>elaboration</em> phase where some startup code is
executed before the main procedure is called.  This depends on the
languages used to write your program.  In C<tt>++</tt>, for instance,
constructors for static and global objects are executed before
<code>main</code> is called.  It is therefore possible that the debugger stops
before reaching the main procedure.  However, the temporary breakpoint
will remain to halt execution.
</p>
<p>Specify the arguments to give to your program as arguments to the
&lsquo;<samp>start</samp>&rsquo; command.  These arguments will be given verbatim to the
underlying &lsquo;<samp>run</samp>&rsquo; command.  Note that the same arguments will be
reused if no argument is provided during subsequent calls to
&lsquo;<samp>start</samp>&rsquo; or &lsquo;<samp>run</samp>&rsquo;.
</p>
<p>It is sometimes necessary to debug the program during elaboration.  In
these cases, using the <code>start</code> command would stop the execution of
your program too late, as the program would have already completed the
elaboration phase.  Under these circumstances, insert breakpoints in your
elaboration code before running your program.
</p>
<a name="set-exec_002dwrapper"></a><a name="index-set-exec_002dwrapper"></a>
</dd>
<dt><code>set exec-wrapper <var>wrapper</var></code></dt>
<dt><code>show exec-wrapper</code></dt>
<dt><code>unset exec-wrapper</code></dt>
<dd><p>When &lsquo;<samp>exec-wrapper</samp>&rsquo; is set, the specified wrapper is used to
launch programs for debugging.  <small>GDB</small> starts your program
with a shell command of the form <kbd>exec <var>wrapper</var>
<var>program</var></kbd>.  Quoting is added to <var>program</var> and its
arguments, but not to <var>wrapper</var>, so you should add quotes if
appropriate for your shell.  The wrapper runs until it executes
your program, and then <small>GDB</small> takes control.
</p>
<p>You can use any program that eventually calls <code>execve</code> with
its arguments as a wrapper.  Several standard Unix utilities do
this, e.g. <code>env</code> and <code>nohup</code>.  Any Unix shell script ending
with <code>exec &quot;$@&quot;</code> will also work.
</p>
<p>For example, you can use <code>env</code> to pass an environment variable to
the debugged program, without setting the variable in your shell&rsquo;s
environment:
</p>
<div class="smallexample">
<pre class="smallexample">(gdb) set exec-wrapper env 'LD_PRELOAD=libtest.so'
(gdb) run
</pre></div>

<p>This command is available when debugging locally on most targets, excluding
<small>DJGPP</small>, Cygwin, MS Windows, and QNX Neutrino.
</p>
<a name="index-set-startup_002dwith_002dshell"></a>
</dd>
<dt><code>set startup-with-shell</code></dt>
<dt><code>set startup-with-shell on</code></dt>
<dt><code>set startup-with-shell off</code></dt>
<dt><code>show set startup-with-shell</code></dt>
<dd><p>On Unix systems, by default, if a shell is available on your target,
<small>GDB</small>) uses it to start your program.  Arguments of the
<code>run</code> command are passed to the shell, which does variable
substitution, expands wildcard characters and performs redirection of
I/O.  In some circumstances, it may be useful to disable such use of a
shell, for example, when debugging the shell itself or diagnosing
startup failures such as:
</p>
<div class="smallexample">
<pre class="smallexample">(gdb) run
Starting program: ./a.out
During startup program terminated with signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
</pre></div>

<p>which indicates the shell or the wrapper specified with
&lsquo;<samp>exec-wrapper</samp>&rsquo; crashed, not your program.  Most often, this is
caused by something odd in your shell&rsquo;s non-interactive mode
initialization file&mdash;such as <samp>.cshrc</samp> for C-shell,
$<samp>.zshenv</samp> for the Z shell, or the file specified in the
&lsquo;<samp>BASH_ENV</samp>&rsquo; environment variable for BASH.
</p>
<a name="set-auto_002dconnect_002dnative_002dtarget"></a><a name="index-set-auto_002dconnect_002dnative_002dtarget"></a>
</dd>
<dt><code>set auto-connect-native-target</code></dt>
<dt><code>set auto-connect-native-target on</code></dt>
<dt><code>set auto-connect-native-target off</code></dt>
<dt><code>show auto-connect-native-target</code></dt>
<dd>
<p>By default, if not connected to any target yet (e.g., with
<code>target remote</code>), the <code>run</code> command starts your program as a
native process under <small>GDB</small>, on your local machine.  If you&rsquo;re
sure you don&rsquo;t want to debug programs on your local machine, you can
tell <small>GDB</small> to not connect to the native target automatically
with the <code>set auto-connect-native-target off</code> command.
</p>
<p>If <code>on</code>, which is the default, and if <small>GDB</small> is not
connected to a target already, the <code>run</code> command automaticaly
connects to the native target, if one is available.
</p>
<p>If <code>off</code>, and if <small>GDB</small> is not connected to a target
already, the <code>run</code> command fails with an error:
</p>
<div class="smallexample">
<pre class="smallexample">(gdb) run
Don't know how to run.  Try &quot;help target&quot;.
</pre></div>

<p>If <small>GDB</small> is already connected to a target, <small>GDB</small> always
uses it with the <code>run</code> command.
</p>
<p>In any case, you can explicitly connect to the native target with the
<code>target native</code> command.  For example,
</p>
<div class="smallexample">
<pre class="smallexample">(gdb) set auto-connect-native-target off
(gdb) run
Don't know how to run.  Try &quot;help target&quot;.
(gdb) target native
(gdb) run
Starting program: ./a.out
[Inferior 1 (process 10421) exited normally]
</pre></div>

<p>In case you connected explicitly to the <code>native</code> target,
<small>GDB</small> remains connected even if all inferiors exit, ready for
the next <code>run</code> command.  Use the <code>disconnect</code> command to
disconnect.
</p>
<p>Examples of other commands that likewise respect the
<code>auto-connect-native-target</code> setting: <code>attach</code>, <code>info
proc</code>, <code>info os</code>.
</p>
<a name="index-set-disable_002drandomization"></a>
</dd>
<dt><code>set disable-randomization</code></dt>
<dt><code>set disable-randomization on</code></dt>
<dd><p>This option (enabled by default in <small>GDB</small>) will turn off the native
randomization of the virtual address space of the started program.  This option
is useful for multiple debugging sessions to make the execution better
reproducible and memory addresses reusable across debugging sessions.
</p>
<p>This feature is implemented only on certain targets, including <small>GNU</small>/Linux.
On <small>GNU</small>/Linux you can get the same behavior using
</p>
<div class="smallexample">
<pre class="smallexample">(gdb) set exec-wrapper setarch `uname -m` -R
</pre></div>

</dd>
<dt><code>set disable-randomization off</code></dt>
<dd><p>Leave the behavior of the started executable unchanged.  Some bugs rear their
ugly heads only when the program is loaded at certain addresses.  If your bug
disappears when you run the program under <small>GDB</small>, that might be because
<small>GDB</small> by default disables the address randomization on platforms, such
as <small>GNU</small>/Linux, which do that for stand-alone programs.  Use <kbd>set
disable-randomization off</kbd> to try to reproduce such elusive bugs.
</p>
<p>On targets where it is available, virtual address space randomization
protects the programs against certain kinds of security attacks.  In these
cases the attacker needs to know the exact location of a concrete executable
code.  Randomizing its location makes it impossible to inject jumps misusing
a code at its expected addresses.
</p>
<p>Prelinking shared libraries provides a startup performance advantage but it
makes addresses in these libraries predictable for privileged processes by
having just unprivileged access at the target system.  Reading the shared
library binary gives enough information for assembling the malicious code
misusing it.  Still even a prelinked shared library can get loaded at a new
random address just requiring the regular relocation process during the
startup.  Shared libraries not already prelinked are always loaded at
a randomly chosen address.
</p>
<p>Position independent executables (PIE) contain position independent code
similar to the shared libraries and therefore such executables get loaded at
a randomly chosen address upon startup.  PIE executables always load even
already prelinked shared libraries at a random address.  You can build such
executable using <code>gcc -fPIE -pie</code>.
</p>
<p>Heap (malloc storage), stack and custom mmap areas are always placed randomly
(as long as the randomization is enabled).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code>show disable-randomization</code></dt>
<dd><p>Show the current setting of the explicit disable of the native randomization of
the virtual address space of the started program.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>

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